coloni
coloni — 名詞
1. During the final centuries of the Roman Empire, a person who worked a farm owned
隸農
後期羅馬帝國中，被束縛於土地的佃農
During the final centuries of the Roman Empire, a person who worked a farm owned by a wealthy landowner and was legally required to stay on that land. The coloni could not move away or find different work, and they paid for the use of the land by giving the landlord part of their crops or animals instead of money.
In the 4th century, landless North African farmers often became coloni on large estates.
四世紀時，北非許多小農失去了土地，淪為大莊園上的隸農。
historical context: 4th-century North Africa
The coloni were not slaves, but they could not leave the estate without permission.
隸農不是奴隸，但如果沒有地主的允許，他們不能離開莊園。
contrasting coloni with slavery
Roman Egyptian records describe a coloni who paid his yearly rent in wine and grain.
羅馬埃及的文獻記載了一名隸農，他每年以葡萄酒和穀物代替錢幣繳納地租。
A coloni's children were tied to the land and worked the same farm.
隸農的子女也被束縛在土地上，耕種同一塊農田。
Roman law let landowners turn indebted free farmers into coloni.
根據羅馬法律，當自由農民深陷債務時，地主可以將其變為隸農。
- serf
describes a similar legal status in medieval Europe, but the serf system developed several centuries after the Roman coloni system ended
- tenant farmer
a general modern term for someone who farms land owned by another; coloni were tenant farmers with the additional restriction of being legally tied to the land
文法句型
the coloni + plural verb
the coloni + singular verb (class meaning)
用法筆記
Technically the plural of Latin 'colonus' (one farmer) and 'coloni' (many farmers), but in English historical writing 'coloni' is also used as a collective noun referring to the social class or system as a whole.